[b]November 4th, 2019
7:30 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City[/b]

[hr][center][h3][color=#22ff00][u]Echo[/u][/color][/h3][/center]

“Hiss reeyee shuks.” Ezra tried, words muffled by the damp wash cloth hanging from his mouth. He was sitting cross legged on the floor beside his bed, facing a large mirror leaning against a corner. His hands were buried in his hair, and stained completely black. This was a simple process, he had done it many, many times, but somehow he had managed to burst the bag of hair dye, sensing sudsy black splotches all over himself, the floor, and, of course, his new starry space themed bed sheets.he used to do this in the bathroom, where it was safe, but nooo~ he's done this a million times now he could do other things too, it'd be fine- bam, ruined sheets.

He sighed, giving up on his half dyed hair, there simply wasn't enough dye left to cover it. Usually the dye would fizzle out in a day or so, the ecto-energy gradually burning it away, but he had a way of expediting the process: a sudden ring of intense white energy appeared around him, forming at his waist and splitting into two, one going up and the other down. By the time the two finished spewing large amounts of ecto-radiation all over him his hair was once again white, the dye burned away, and his clothes were cool to the touch, but smoking slightly as if singed by heat.

“Well,” he said to himself, “guess I should try and clean this up.” He inspected the spilled hair dye on his sheets before sighing again and shoving a grey beanie on his head. He wasn't going to class today, not after that disaster.

[hr]

[b]8:45 AM, PT[/b]

An hour and so later and Ezra was heading to the roof. Living in an apartment with only two rooms, one of which was a tiny bathroom, did have its advantages; mainly being cheap, but it also had drawbacks; there was nowhere to hide his stuff! The roof was the only place he could work with, he'd actually managed to hide his pod up there by breaking the locks and jamming the roof access door, meaning only he could reach the tiny shed that was up there.

Really it was a lucky find, but he'd had his share of close calls, and now everyone thought the building was haunted because he'd worked so hard to keep anyone and everyone from getting up there. It was worth it though, and a few seconds after floating straight through the ceiling and landing on the roof he was walking through the door, not bothering to open it, and was met by the low glow of bright green emitting from his old pod. Hanging on to this thing had been a pain, but it was one of his only pieces of Ectonian tech and thus invaluable.

It also had another invaluable function; [i]”Pod,”[/i] he addressed, in Gholish, [i]”scan system for ecto-signatures.”[/i] Given ectoplasm was in everything on Ghol, from their bodies to their technologies, the presence of ecto-signatures would stand out as an unmistakable sign of his people. After a few minutes, during which Ezra opened a panel on the pod and began studying it’d internal functions, the pod let out a trill, a mix of Gholish words he barely heard anymore. He'd long memorized the response; two external ecto-signatures, one of which was him, the other was his Zon Tube. He wanted to improve the range, maybe piggyback off someone else’s network, so he could scan further, but even if he could it wouldn't be easy to get off Earth.

He ended up wasting another few hours there, tinkering away with the pod and trying to sketch new plans for improvements or technologies he could recreate.

[hr]

[b]10:00 PM, PT
The Small Café, Coast City[/b]

The front entrance was nice, all long windows, dark wooden tables, very open, and bright lighting, but Ezra didn't go there, instead he turned invisible and walked down a side alley, only appearing again when he was underground, slipping down an old subway maintenance entrance that had never been completed, and there in the corner was a door into the lower level of The Small.

The door had no handle, it was featureless and made of a dark metal, but there was a slightly raised square where the handle would normally be. Ezra touched it for a second, waiting until there was a soft ‘click’ and the door opened a smidge. It was a scanner, determined if the touched was human or not, and while humans were allowed in theory, none had ever been invited in, and that was the unspoken rule; a human needed an alien to trust them to get in, but while a few had human friends who were in the know, no one would be happy to have one turning up in their one safe space.

The lower level has a similar theme to the first, with dark woods and nice open space, but the lights were much dimmer, and there were no windows, instead the walls were painted with alien motifs and icons and scenes from a wide variety of worlds, species, and cultures.

Ezra shook off his nerves about being scene, forcing the lingering paranoia out of his mind and taking a steadying breath as the door closed behind him. He could finally relax, at least a little. He removed his sunglasses, which he'd worn despite the darkening sky and his invisibility trick, and allowed his glowing green eyes to see the room unfiltered, and he pulled off his beanie, letting his snowy white hair breathe.

“Ayyy! Ezra!” A gruff and cheerful voice called from the behind the bar as he approached, taking note there were a total of four patrons today, only one of which he knew, and the lone barman- which was a surprise.

“Yoski, you work here now?” Ezra asked with surprise. It shouldn't be that surprising, this was literally the only place he knew of that an alien like Yoski could work at. He was a small alien, essentially a yellowish green octopus or jellyfish, with stubby tentacles aplenty, and a convenient ability to float in Earth’s air as if it were water. There was no passing him off as an Earthling, even if he did speak with a ridiculously American accent and used all the slang perfectly.

“Man, are you out of the loop or what?!” Yoski exclaimed, soft jelly-like skin vibrating cheerfully. Ezra gave a small bemused smile as he settled in at the bar to hear the latest gossip, out of the corner of his eye he caught the approach of a red-skinned Lauren as she abandoned her table to come say hello. He had promised her he'd turn up hadn't he? Well here he was...